Sphegina (Asiosphegina) culex, Hippa, Heikki, Steenis, Jeroen Van & Mutin, Valeri A., 2015

Hippa, Heikki, Steenis, Jeroen Van & Mutin, Valeri A., 2015, The genus Sphegina Meigen (Diptera, Syrphidae) in a biodiversity hotspot: the thirty-six sympatric species in Kambaiti, Myanmar, Zootaxa 3954 (1), pp. 1-67 : 60

Sphegina (Asiosphegina) culex sp. n.

Figs 1C, 39A–D

MALE. Body length 5.4 mm, wing length 5.0 mm. Head (Fig. 1C). Face strongly concave and weakly projected antero-ventrally; frontal prominence very weakly developed. Width of vertex at anterior ocellus:width of head 1:3.6; depth of occipital fossa ca. 1/6 of the width of an eye in dorsal view. Width of face: width of head 1:4.1. Face and gena dark, pale pollinose. Frons and vertex dull black; frons with a depression behind frontal prominence; the pile short, erect and pale. Occiput dull black. Antenna brownish; arista with short pile. Thorax. Colour black, postalar callus brownish, slightly pale pollinose; scutum with the pile adpressed, pale; scutellum semicircular, the pile short, pale and adpressed, with a pair of thin, long, yellow setae at apical margin. Wing. Hyaline, stigma very pale. Legs. Proleg yellow, tarsomeres 3 and 5 dark. Mesoleg similar to proleg, the apical tarsomeres lost from the single specimen. Metaleg: coxa brownish; trochanter simple, yellow; femur brown, paler apically, basal 1/3 yellow; tibia without apico-ventral tooth, yellow, the apical 1/5 black and an obscure brownish annulus on the basal 1/2; all tarsomeres entirely black. Abdomen. Length ratio of tergites I, II, III and IV 1:2.9:1.9:1.9. Colour of tergites shiny black, tergite III reddish on anterior 1/2, pile of tergites pale, short and adpressed, becoming longer laterally; tergite I with an oblique row of 5 rather thin, long, pale setae laterally; sternite IV ( Fig. 39 A) black, the pile pale; sternites VI–VIII simple, black, the pile pale. Genitalia, Figs 39 B–D. Note the nearly symmetrical surstyli and superior lobes as well as the slightly modified cercus. FEMALE. Unknown.

Type material. HOLOTYPE. ♂, N.E. Burma, Kambaiti, 7000 ft, 14.v.1934, R. Malaise , ( SMNH).

Etymology. The name is Latin, culex , mosquito, referring to the mosquito-like appearance of the fly.

Discussion. Sphegina culex is similar to S. pollex . For further discussion, see under the latter.

Figures

FIGURE 39. Sphegina (Asiosphegina) culex sp. n. (holotype). A. Sternite IV, ventral view. B. Left surstylus, lateral view. C. Left superior lobe, lateral view. D. Genitalia, lateral view. Scale 0.5 mm.